The short film “Our Eagles” is a charming slice of life short film that may leave you with some philosophical questions to ponder.

Our Eagles

Directed by Emily Tope

Runtime: 10 minutes, 2015

“Our Eagles” is the story of the Decorah Eagles and the live stream that made them famous. The Decorah Eagle cam, part of the Raptor Resource Project, is a live stream that tracks the life and times of the eagles from their nest high up in the trees. Anyone anywhere can log onto the site and see what the eagles are up to. After the stream went live on the internet, thousands of people tuned in and became incredibly invested in the eagles’ health and well-being – and of course, their antics.

Director Emily Tope said in the Q&A following the film that it began as a school project while she was studying in Decorah, Iowa. The initial idea was to compile a “Best of the Decorah Eagles” from the hours and hours of footage produced by the 24 hour camera. In true documentary fashion, the project evolved and became a story about the human community that came together around the eagles, inspired to meet one another and take action to protect the eagles’ habitat.

“Our Eagles” is a cute and funny insight in and of itself but what is most interesting about it is the premise that the Decorah Eagle live stream is creating an engaged activist community.

It’s suggested in some of the interviews that people become attached to the eagles after watching the live stream – which not only shows the eagles’ daily feeding routine but life events like the hatchings of their offspring. As one could expect, views went up significantly when baby eagles were abound.

In some ways the Decorah Eagle cam is a raw version of something like “Meerkat Manor” – it’s virtually a reality television show except animals, not humans, are the stars. There’s no narrator or manipulative editing involved with the Decorah Eagle Cam but it’s not a far stretch to think that some viewers might be narrating the footage in their own heads as they watch.

It might be a little troubling, this anthropomorphizing, but ultimately, the Decorah Eagle cam gives viewers unprecedented access to this wildlife population. It may even be safe to assert that some viewers would never have become activists and conservationists if they hadn’t started watching the live stream.… Read the rest

The Colorado Environmental Film Festival wrapped up last weekend with 56 films playing over three days at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, Colorado. Stay tuned for reviews of short films and feature films from the festival as well as some insights given by the directors in the Q&A sessions that followed the screenings. I’ll be posting reviews for the following short films:

Sharing the Secrets

Fragile Legacy

Our Eagles

Our Water

Norma’s Story

Far Afield: A Conservation Love Story

Giant Visions of Tiny Places

Unacceptable Risks: Firefighters on the Frontlines of Climate Change

ATTO: An Adventure in the Amazon

America’s First Forest

And the following feature films:

Wastecooking

Field Biologist

The End of the Line

The Anthropologist

CEFF was an inspiring mix of independent films, with lots of talent and DIY spirit. If you’re interested in seeing environmental films in a beautiful place, CEFF is definitely a Fest to put on your lifetime list. Golden is a quaint town that is surrounded by amazing mountains and outdoor recreation. There’s lots of good food and brew in Golden and in nearby Denver, plenty of things to do if you’re looking to get out in the fresh air between film screenings, and there’s always someone to talk to about the movies you’ve just seen.

With The Safe Side of the Fence, a feature-length documentary about the Manhattan Project’s nuclear waste legacy in the St. Louis area, local filmmaker Tony West captures the long, treacherous history of radioactivity in the region and holds up nuclear waste as one of today’s most prominent and pressing issues nationwide.

The Safe Side of the Fence

Directed by Tony West

Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes, 2015

The atomic history of the United States is one deeply rooted in secrecy and one that remains shrouded in mystery. The Safe Side of the Fence looks at the origins of nuclear waste in the St. Louis area beginning with Mallinckrodt Chemical Company’s initial work refining uranium with the Manhattan Project. The film is an overview of nuclear wastes in the region but connects specific sites like West Lake Landfill, Coldwater Creek and Weldon Spring to give viewers a bigger picture perspective. This is an important perspective because the radioactive contamination is extensive, geographically and otherwise, disrupting the lives of many workers, their families, and residents across the area with illness from radiation exposure.

The backbone of the film, emotionally and structurally, is the personal story of Denise Brock, whose father worked at Mallinckrodt and died after a long battle with various cancers. In seeking compensation for her mother through a federal law meant to help nuclear weapons workers who had been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation and their survivors, Brock found herself challenging the law and working on behalf of many more workers and their families to make the process of claiming compensation easier.

In following Brock’s story, the documentary is able to reveal the immense personal burden shouldered by nuclear workers and their families in a way that is sensitive and poignant. It also illuminates the complexities of the legislation and the process of claiming compensation. What would be a complicated and jargon-heavy legal document suddenly becomes a personal account of injustice and the desire to right historical wrongs.

Most importantly, the story of Brock and her family articulates a main tenet in continuing the discussion about the atomic history of the United States: those suffering most from the toxic consequences of the military-industrial complex are often workers. The workers at Mallinckrodt, like workers all over the country who were employed by companies contracted under the Manhattan Project, were never informed of the risks and dangers associated with refining uranium.… Read the rest

This weekend is the 10th Annual Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF) in Golden, Colorado. The festival celebrates independent films that focus on big and small stories about environmental issues near and far.

There’s sure to be no shortage on activism and excitement with a line-up of films that discuss a huge spectrum of issues – everything from fast food to compost, tiny houses to sustainable forestry, honey bees to tiny fish.

You can find a schedule of the festival here, and as one might take note, I’ve heavily marked up my schedule with films I’m looking forward to seeing.

Caitlin’s CEFF 2016 Schedule

CEFF is an intimate festival and has only two concurrent sessions, yet the decisions about which films to see is arduous – if only there was time to catch them all.

What’s exciting about CEFF is that it is full of short films and it features nonfiction and fiction work. CEFF has shown big name films like Damnation (at last year’s festival) but also caters to small films and independent filmmakers you aren’t likely to see covered in mainstream media.

Check back throughout this weekend for posts about the festival and reviews of films hot off the press! You can also follow @catlinzera for live twitter updates from festival.… Read the rest

This year’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival offerings include odes to waters great and small, slam poetry, and an unexpected love story. Reviewed here are five of the twelve films that will be showcased at the festival this Sunday.

Wild & Scenic Film Festival

February 14, 2016 2-5pm

Windsor Auditorium on Stephen’s College campus

Columbia, Missouri

Trailer for “Love in the Tetons” – film featured at this year’s festival

While it’s easy to overlook short films because of their brevity and obscurity, they can offer us a lot – like the perfectly timed glimpse into a world unknown or the ideal whisper of intrigue into a complex issue.

Great ideas come from short films (often shorts are expanded into feature-length films if they prove to be successful) and great ideas are contained in short films. This year’s Wild & Scenic selection of 12 films all under 25 minutes delivers high caliber stories that will leave you with the best kind of insatiability for more adventure and knowledge.

These short films are beautiful economies – plot lines never drag, characters never go astray, and each moment is utilized to advance our understanding of the story at hand. Overall, this year’s selection showcases gorgeous natural beauty – even though not a minute is wasted, each film gives audiences time to linger on the amazing vistas of our world and the incredible perils and possibilities we face.

Even in montage-driven films like “Thousand Year Journey,” we get a good look at all the natural wonders our main subject, Jedidiah Jenkins, experiences. From Oregon to Patagonia, this four-minute film about Jenkins’ cycling journey along the North American coast leaves viewers wanting to break their own routines and follow Jenkins’ advice to “be alive and awake every single day.” The film is a thread of incredible memories, like polaroid snapshots hung on a string with clothespins.

In “The Story of Place” audiences follow along the “enduring cultural map” of the impossibly beautiful Greater Canyonlands in Utah. The film is narrated by three voices, each with a different perspective, but they share a common love for the mystery and awe of the Canyonlands: author Craig Childs, adventure photographer Ace Kvale, and community leader Jim Enote. The film is specifically about the Canyonlands and the parts of it that remain unprotected territory. “What is this land worth in oil? Where do we want to steer our civilization?… Read the rest

GMO OMG is a parent’s perspective on eating, ethically and healthily, that dives into the issues surrounding GMOs with lots of heart and inquisitiveness.

GMO OMG

Directed by Jeremy Seifert

Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes, 2013

GMO OMG follows Jeremy Seifert, a parent of three, as he criss-crosses the globe to talk to citizens and experts about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food. His motivation is his family – he wants to know what he’s feeding his children. Seifert isn’t alarmist – he’s a concerned parent in search of more conclusive information, which he often struggles to find. The strongest points of the film are his interactions with citizens, some of whom have become activists and advocates for the “right to know” what’s in their food.

The film does cover the main issues related to GMOs – patenting, health, labeling, farmer contracts, seed-saving, agricultural outputs, and cross-contamination between GMO and non-GMO crops. However, the focus remains on family, and Seifert’s frustrations with not knowing which products are and aren’t GMO very much come from his desire to be an informed parent. This is incredibly relatable and turns the conversation from overly technical and scientific to understandable and critical of the way our food system has evolved. The core of the conversation is a need for knowledge, and throughout the film the conversation returns to the need to label GMOs and GMO products.

The statistics Seifert uses throughout the film are illustrated through clever animations, and he provides citations that can be referenced. GMO OMG is personal and filled with insights about the difficulties of raising a family at a time when we have both too much and too little information. It also speaks to the difficulties of navigating ethical eating in a broken food system. As his children lust after an ice cream truck passing through the neighborhood, Seifert ponders, “Who doesn’t want to buy their children ice cream on a hot summer day? Opting out of a type of food like GMOs that are everywhere means opting out of culture and tradition, and we weren’t ready to do that completely.”

Though Seifert has visited with Haitian farmers who feel their culture and tradition has been threatened by GMOs, his point hits home for many American families. Even with a growing sense that the current culture and tradition of the American food system is not one that supports transparency, health or nourishment, on a day to day basis, Seifert admits there are myriad challenges to aligning your values with your food consumption.… Read the rest

In a report released last week, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum concluded that the world’s oceans may contain more plastic debris than fish by the year 2050. If the amount of plastic that is in ocean right now overwhelms you, you are not alone and the documentary Plastic Paradise will bring you some much needed solidarity.

Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Directed by Angela Sun

Runtime: 57 minutes, 2013

Plastic Paradise is a personal journey in which filmmaker Angela Sun follows plastic waste from its disposal sites on land all the way to Midway Atoll, a remote island community in the Pacific Ocean, in search of the final resting place for the world’s plastic. This resting place is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – the meeting place of major currents in the Pacific Ocean where plastic items (anything from toys, grocery bags, single serve water bottles, fishing nets, etc.) that enter the water from the three surrounding continents amass.

Sun travels to Midway Atoll to meet with scientists and get some answers about the effects of this mass amount of plastic in our oceans. Due to its geographic location in the Pacific Ocean, Midway Atoll is the best place to get an idea of the amount of plastic in our ocean. Situated along major currents, Midway Atoll is on the front lines of the Pacific Garbage Patch amassment. Plastic items and pieces wash up on its shores, littering its beaches with plastic debris of all shapes and sizes.

Midway Atoll is the resting place for hundreds upon hundreds of birds who, after ingesting exorbitant amounts of plastic, collapse and die in the sand. They are dissected by scientists for information on what types of plastics they’ve consumed and then mounded into large piles, almost like mass graves, and eventually carted away from the shore. During these scenes you can’t help but feel that you’ve seen not one but hundreds of canaries in the coalmine.

Because Midway Atoll is the gateway to the Pacific Garbage Patch, it’s also just the beginning of the story Sun pursues in Plastic Paradise: an all encompassing look at our society’s relationship with plastic.

Sun develops the story of the world’s plastic in a well-rounded way throughout the film. While we all know we can stop using so much unnecessary plastic, she shows that consumption of plastic is not an isolated environmental issue and nor is disposal, i.e.… Read the rest

Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective is a documentary film permeated with a refreshing sense of serenity and possibility. Inhabit is foremost a documentary about gardening and small-scale agriculture, but it encompasses much more and tonally strikes a reflective, philosophical note that is somewhat unusual for documentaries about sustainable agriculture.

Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective

Directed by Costa Boutsikaris

Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes, 2015

The film introduces the concept of permaculture through a handful of different projects across the United States. Permaculture is described by the filmmakers as “a design method that offers an ecological lens for solving issues related to agriculture, economics, governance, and so on.” Inhabit’s strength lies in its diversity of subjects featured – the projects range from vast wild orchards to rooftop gardens, suburban community rainscaping to urban community gardening. The people behind the projects are equally diverse and come to this work from different backgrounds and motivations.

However, the common thread is clear: all the subjects share a desire to truly inhabit the spaces in which they have chosen to live. This definition of “inhabiting” seems to be somewhat akin to the philosophical notion of “being-in-the-world” – a deep awareness of your own presence and your place within the universe. This is often read in the context of ecocentric philosophy, and the film is thus aptly named. The subjects are thematically linked through their poignant interviews and the structure and visual style of film perpetuates a sense of inhabitance. The portraits of each permaculture project seem less like vignettes and more like one narrative, with each scene flowing seamlessly into the next. Each portrait is an extension of a much larger project: the project of restoring sense of place. The film’s deep focus cinematography and effortless, gliding shots create a stirring poetic effect. The filmmakers achieve the perfect balance of peacefulness, earthiness, and ethereality through these cinematic techniques, the film’s soundscape, and their artistic veneration of the subject matter.

Inhabit doesn’t hide the fact that farming in any capacity is difficult work, physically and otherwise, but it celebrates this work and shows the many rewards of cultivating a purposeful life through sustainable practices. The film welcomes several audiences – those who are seeking information and inspiration about permaculture, those who want to learn more about sustainable agriculture, and those who are simply curious about the possibilities of living more eco-harmoniously.

The filmmakers of Inhabit, who financed the film through a crowdfunding campaign, have kept the project community focused by developing a robust online resource in addition to the full-length film.… Read the rest

Divide in Concord is the perfect documentary film for anyone who wants to get fired up about local politics and the power of grassroots citizen action. The documentary follows Jean Hill, an elderly resident of Concord, Massachusetts, who leads a multi-year effort to get the town to ban single-serve bottled water.

Divide in Concord

Directed by Kris Kaczor

Runtime: 82 minutes, 2014

Divide in Concord works particularly well as an inspirational piece for activists looking to be realistically re-energized in campaigns against corporate tyranny, but it also has the ability to draw out poignant conversations about the realities of political bureaucracy, the meaning of patriotism, and the difficulties of confronting everyday convenience consumerism and corporate propaganda. I viewed the film at a community screening with an audience of about 100 people which proved to be an ideal way to experience the film.

The film illustrates the kind of intergenerational environmental activism that is becoming increasingly important to the success of social movement campaigns. Hill is inspired to act after her grandson tells her about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the unprecedented amount of plastic entering the ocean. Where Hill’s grandson plugs her into a realm of the world wide web and instantaneous digital information, she demonstrates to him and the community the importance of on-the-ground grassroots citizen engagement, which still holds as the backbone of social change.

Hill goes door to door in neighborhoods across Concord, gathering signatures to introduce a bill banning single-serve plastic water bottles. As her campaign gains momentum, she rallies a group of core activists comprised of concerned parents, shopkeepers, and high school students.

The film does not shy away from the grassroots campaign’s difficulties in getting residents and the city council to respond to their demand for action. When their bill is defeated, Hill and her compatriots return to the city council year after year. They also face immense challenges combating corporate communications that attempt to sway residents with misinformation. The film features a particularly painful scene in which Hill calls into a radio program to discuss the bill, only to be aggressively shut down and shut out by the host and a pro-single-serve water bottle publicist. Her exasperation is heartbreakingly excruciating, and if you’re watching with an audience of activists, the shared frustration amongst the crowd is sure to be palpable.

Divide in Concord does play more to the “glocal” (think globally, act locally) approach to social, environmental change.… Read the rest

You may have read the book, but have you seen the movie? Last week, Michael Pollan’s “eaters’ manifesto” In Defense of Food came to the small screen and premiered as a television documentary film on PBS stations across the country.

In Defense of Food is a documentary film based upon Michael Pollan’s 2008 book of the same name. If you’ve followed Michael Pollan’s work much of the film will be familiar to you, but the pleasing visuals, animated infographics, and profiles of successful farm-to-table projects in urban underserved areas will make the film worthwhile. If you’re new to Pollan’s work or interested in learning more, In Defense of Food is good introductory material. It’s just about two hours long, covers the history of our current food system, and lays out the major problems and trends with how we eat. In Defense of Food also includes aspects of social justice like food access and aspects of public health like childhood obesity and diabetes. It connects these two in a simple and straightforward way. The film itself is also accessible – it aired on PBS this December and is available to stream for free online.

Pollan takes the film as an opportunity to expand upon his Food Rules concepts and uses the documentary as a platform to answer the question he gets asked the most: “What should I eat?” The film focuses on understanding how and why we eat the way we do – why our bodies crave sugars and fats, how our lifestyles have evolved to impact our eating, what health and community risks our eating habits introduce. There’s a fair amount of science in the film but it’s well explained and necessary to resisting the “dumbing down” the issues. There are certainly unpleasant reality checks throughout the film, but these are also necessary. The filmmakers are careful to strike a reasonable balance between stark of hopeful projects and success stories to make one feel less “doom and gloom.”

The film also showcases solutions based on interesting studies like high school lunch lines putting fruits at the start of the counter instead of the back, portion control tests that reveal changing plate size is a matter of habit not necessarily appetite, and retirement communities that make healthy eating and exercise core values.

The film appears to cover all its bases but it doesn’t dig as aggressively into food policy as one might like given how important this piece of the puzzle is to revolutionizing an industrial food system.… Read the rest